Particle Board Market - Canada in Control of the World’s Particle Board Trade

Particle board is defined as a panel product made by compressing small particles of wood while simultaneously bonding them with an adhesive. Particle boards are often consumed by enterprises for industrial needs, for example in the production of finished products such as ready-to-assemble furniture.

Produced from the waste scraps left from the manufacturing of other wood products, particle board is a highly practical form of wood utilization. For this reason, particle board plants tend to be preferred by countries with limited access to wood resources.

With scarce forestation and high domestic demand for products made from wood, China has had to rely heavily on imports. This situation is in the process of changing, though, owing to an active reforestation and forestation campaign in the country. Meanwhile, China has rapidly expanded its domestic particle board industry, and is now one of the global leaders in particle board of wood production. In addition, Chinese manufacturers are developing new technologies to improve particle board production processing along with extending particle board applications. Evidently, China's particle board industry will continue its accelerated unfolding in the medium term.

In the U.S. and Canada, which are also world leaders on the particle board market, a recovering housing market is anticipated to propel the particle board industry forward. Beyond the housing sector, particle board of wood is also consumed by enterprises engaged in panel furniture production or home improvement projects.

The recovery of the housing industry in North America will not only drive economic growth on the local level, but will influence the main trading partners of these countries across the globe. Other key regions, such as South America and Asia, will also serve as drivers of global demand. However, despite high production volumes, the U.S. and Canada are unlikely to be able to meet an increasing demand for particle board of wood, thus some capacity constraints are likely to be experienced by the industry, turning North America into an attractive target export market over the next five years.

Canada dominates in the global particle board and similar board of wood trade and took the third spot in production. In 2014, Canada exported 61.4% of its total particle board and similar board of wood output. Of this amount, 68% was supplied to the United States, where Canadian particle board and similar board of wood held a 17.7% share of total U.S. consumption.

In 2014, the U.S. (18%), Germany (10%), Russia (5%), Italy (5%) and Poland (5%) were the leading destinations of particle board and similar board of wood imports, together making up 42% of global imports in physical terms and 39% in value terms. And while the share of Russia increased, the share of the U.S. illustrated negative dynamics. The shares of the other countries remained relatively stable throughout the analyzed period.

In 2014, Canada and Germany were the main global suppliers of particle board and similar board of wood with a combined share of 28% of global exports in physical terms and 26% in value terms. However, the fastest growing suppliers from 2007 to 2014 were Romania (+31% per year) and Latvia (+19% per year). Despite being the largest global producers of particle board and similar board of wood, China, the U.S. and Russia did not export much of their production, meaning that it was either domestically consumed, or put in storage.

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